Allyne Cushing Litchfield was born in Hingham, Massachusetts, on July 15, 1835, the youngest of four children. His parents were Anna Cushing (b. 1809) and shipwright Nichols Litchfield (1805-1879). By 1860, Allyne was working as a lumberman in Georgetown, Michigan, and had married Susan Carver (b. 1835). He entered the military as captain of the 5th Michigan Cavalry on August 14, 1862, and served as lieutenant colonel in the 7th Michigan Cavalry from November 14, 1862, to January 31, 1865. He fought at Gettysburg and was taken prisoner in the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid at Athens Station on March 1, 1864. For over nine months, he was held in various Confederate prisons, including Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia, and "Camp Sorghum" in Columbia, South Carolina, but was eventually exchanged in late December. Upon his return, he was brevetted brigadier general. After the war, Litchfield worked briefly as a postal clerk, and in 1871, he was appointed United States Consul General in Calcutta. He died in 1911 of pneumonia.
Allyne and Susan Litchfield had at least three children: Lawrence (b. c. 1862), Lucius (b. c. 1866), and Almira (b. 1875). On April 17, 1901, Almira married Roy Aaron French (1874-1911), son of Lorenzo French and Eutoka Hinman, in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. French had served in Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American war with Company K, 1st U.S. Volunteer Engineers. After his return from the war, he worked as a mechanical engineer until his death at age 35 from septic endocarditis originating from an infection he contracted during his service in Puerto Rico.
From the guide to the Litchfield-French papers, 1862-1918, 1862-1899, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
